In 1976, Bjorgum, a 20-year-old UI student, and Kenneth Bunch, a 24-year-old custodian, tried to get married in Johnson County, the Des Moines Register reported.
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One picture shows Tracy Bjorgum, the first man to apply for a same-sex marriage license in Iowa. Their favorite item in the archives comes from a donated scrapbook filled with newspaper clips, letters and photographs. “A lot of times people think, ‘I’m not seen, so I’m not worth anything, and not worth being seen.’ And it’s a lot of work to be like, ‘No, but you are.’ I see you, and it is worth being seen, and worth preserving for future generations.” And I think a lot of times people don’t even know it,” Hoberg explained. Queer life in Iowa is just as important as the queer omphaloi in Chicago, New York or San Francisco, they said. Hoberg enjoys building relationships with donors across the state, helping them realize how important their stories are. Whether as director or archivist, it’s rewarding work. “Instead of being like, ‘Hey, give me your stuff.’ and then I organize your stuff, it’s much more like dealing with events, making sure that everybody else on the team is doing OK and feels like they’re well supported.” Hoberg is a libraries annex associate at UI, where they do a little bit of everything.
Working as the archives coordinator and interim director requires a decent amount of labor, they said. After finishing it, Bettine invited them to join the leadership team. Kreitman introduced them to Bettine, and Hoberg decided to work on the project at LIAL. While working on a practicum project, they met Ann Kreitman, LIAL’s associate director.
The change has been “intense” and “exhausting.”Īfter undergrad, they pursued a Master’s in library and information sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hoberg, who is also the archives coordinator, became the interim director, and some director responsibilities were spread out to other team members. It was founded in January 2021 by Aiden Bettine, an archivist at the University of Iowa. The Archives and Library was previously housed in the basement of the Wesley Center. The LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library reopened at their new home on the second floor of the Public Space One Close House, photographed on Thursday, April 14, 2022. The organization never had a strict leadership hierarchy, so that aseismic structure could stand firm without its founder. LIAL quickly absorbed the impact of Bettine’s announcement. That’s part of his legacy here,” said Veronica Armstrong, LIAL’s youth education coordinator. “Aiden put a lot of work into building a team that cared. He’s a walking “repository of knowledge.” But Bettine has left a long shadow behind him and a palatable absence. Hoberg texts him frequently to ask questions and get advice. “While we were like, ‘Dang, we’re excited for you!’ We’re also kind of like, ‘Dang, this is a lot of change that has to happen,’” Hoberg said.īettine is still involved from afar, though he doesn’t have the same formal title. Since then, LIAL has grown, bringing in new leadership members and volunteers, adding new programming, traveling across the state, and moving from the dark basement in the Wesley Center to the second-floor haven at the PS1 Close House.īut in July, Bettine announced that he accepted a position at the University of Minnesota as the curator of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, a national and international collection of LGBTQ history, centered around the upper Midwest and Twin Cities area. The event was hosted by the LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library, soon to open at the Close House. Jane Sailor-Morey and Heidi Sailor-Morey listen to speakers at the Transgender Day of Visibility Rally at the Public Space One Close House on Saturday, April 2, 2022, in Iowa City. Rising COVID-19 cases felt reminiscent of the 1980s AIDS epidemic to Bettine, who feared that an entire generation of queer stories could again be lost. Bettine, then an archivist at the University of Iowa, realized there were no LGBTQ-specific collecting development policies in archives across Iowa. The former executive director Aiden Bettine founded LIAL in 2020 while working on the Transgender Oral History Project of Iowa. The LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library ( LIAL) has a new interim director, Madde Hoberg. Hoberg is the new interim executive director after the founder, Aiden Bettine, stepped down in July. Madde Hoberg poses for a portrait on Aug.
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